This pilot study addresses the following main question: At what age do toddlers understand negation in the context of rejection? We plan to extend this paradigm to test negation in the context of denial and non-existence in the future.
The study presents toddlers with videos and measures their looking time to the screen in a violation of expectation paradigm (Baillargeon, Spelke, and Wasserman 1985). In each trial, there are two puppets and two objects on the screen. One puppet asks the other if they want one of the objects. The second puppet answers with “yes” or “no”. Then the first puppet gives either the desired object (consistent with the answer), or the object that was not desired (inconsistent with the answer). We hypothesize that knowledge of negation in the context of rejecting desires results in surprise when the puppet provides a rejected object.
The study has four within-subject trial types. These four trial-types are created based on two factors:
The table below summarizes the study’s \(2\times2\) design. Positive trial types consititue the control condition and negative trial types constitute the test condition.
| Trial-Type | Objects | Question | Answer | Object Received |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Positive-Consistent | X, Y | Do you want the X? | Yes | X |
| Positive-Inconsistent | X, Y | Do you want the X? | Yes | Y |
| Negative-Consistent | X, Y | Do you want the X? | No | Y |
| Negative-Inconsistent | X, Y | Do you want the X? | No | X |
The study had two puppets: Yuni the unicorn and Diego the Dragon. Yuni is the puppet that receives objects and Diego is the puppet that asks Yuni what she wants and gives her an object.
Yuni (left) and Diego (right).
We used four pairs of objects (one per trial type): 1. an apple and a banana, 2. a small ball and a toy car, 3. a rubber duck and a teddy bear 4. a cup and a spoon.